Cebu to Korea: My First Travel to the Other Side – PART 1

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Travelling is surely exciting especially when you reach new destinations and you foresee to tick off new checks on your bucket list. New weather, new time zone, new people, new environment, new culture, almost everything are new and learning and immersing yourself in this kind of things are often rewarding and worth-remembering.

I was lucky to be in my company because I could travel internationally to support our clients. This was my 2nd international trip, first was in Singapore and now in the United States of America. Not that I’m too excited because I got a lot of things to prepare like clothing – especially of the season – and myself to immerse in a totally different culture. But I was stimulated to explore new things that could help me develop not only my professional self but also to my personal being.

Hence the day comes forth and my travel to the other side of the world begins. My flight itinerary takes 2 layovers; therefore, I’ll be in 3 different flights from Cebu to my last destination. Sounds fun, isn’t it?

FIRST FLIGHT – CEBU TO KOREA

My journey begins when I checked in Mactan-Cebu International Airport and have passed all the immigration processes. I was waiting for boarding and was just tuning up to my favorite playlist just to make sure I won’t knock myself down to sleep else I might miss my flight.

The flight was delayed which is not totally new to me especially in the Philippines (LOL!) and my eyes were turning red. It was almost 2 in the morning back then and my usual time to sleep is either 10 PM or midnight. I did not even take a sip of late because of the fear of might not able to sleep in the flight which was my plan – to sleep during my 4-hour flight to Incheon.

And so, the most awaited start of the journey begins when the airport attendant announced our boarding. It was a quick boarding since everything was already delayed. Luckily, I have a bigger allowance in my layovers to make sure I won’t miss my next flight.

Our flight with ASIANA Airlines took off and I was in the window seat which is exciting as this was my first time to see the sunrise above the clouds. It was a 4-hour flight and Korea has a 1 hour time difference. We had to adjust our watches then.

My plan went accordingly as I was able to sleep onboard. I just wonder if I snored loud and my seatmate was able to sleep with that. Haha!

The number of hours on board was just like minutes after my sleep. We landed at the best airport in the world – Incheon International Airport – in Korea. My first job was to find my next flight which is a bit of a challenge since the airport is huge and there are a lot of flights going on. Good thing that they have ample of big signage in different languages and some information counter. I approached one of their attendants and asked where my next flight was. To find out that it is located on the next terminal which is really far from where I arrived. However, it is not a problem because they have a shuttle train below to bring us to the next terminal which is amazing but my problem now is that I lack sleep and I am starving.

Fun story: ASIANA airlines provide complimentary food while on board and I was deeply asleep and probably they were not able to wake me up thus I missed their food! Haha!

Of trains and walks, finally, I was able to check in to my next and long flight in the correct terminal. I then looked for something to eat which it didn’t take a while to find it. I ordered a burger and some fries with drinks and that served as my brunch.

Fun story: While I was vlogging and eating, some American woman asked me “Hey, what is that?” pointing to my gorilla pod. I was shocked she didn’t know this and I replied, “it’s a gorilla pod”. She then said, “Oh, where’d you get that?”. And I replied, “I bought it somewhere in a computer shop in the Philippines.” She then complimented, “that’s nice! I want to have that because I do videos and stuff”. Then I just smiled and nodded and continued to eat. AWKWARD!!! Haha!

A few moments later while that woman took her order, she approached me again and offered me one basket of chicken haha! I said no thanks because I’m already full. She offered because she did not expect that her order is that much. She ordered 2 baskets of chicken with around 3 big pieces each!

3 hours have passed and I need to be at the boarding gate for my next flight and the story continues to the next part here.

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The Blogger

CJ is a code-geek by weekdays and a frolic adventurer on the weekend. He's a free-spirited being who loves to go to the mountains, hills, waterfalls and anything that refreshes him from the daily pressure of life.